Astoria Needs a Bridge-to-Bridge Two-Way Protected Bike Lane

Astoria is a popular neighborhood for biking. Residents use their bikes to conveniently commute into Manhattan over the Queensboro Bridge (less than 20 minutes) and for recreation along the waterfront to Astoria Park. With Citibike's recent arrival in Astoria, residents are increasingly using bike-share to easily commute and reach our businesses and cultural destinations.

But for too many families, biking is still unsafe. Astoria needs a comprehensive network of protected bike lanes designed for all ages and all skill levels. Many of Astoria's safest bike lanes lie along the waterfront (20th Avenue, Vernon Boulevard) - but these lanes are inaccessible and serve more recreational purposes. We need a direct North-South route through the commercial heart of Astoria, that will get folks from their parks, to their neighborhood businesses, and over to Manhattan.

We support studying and implementating a Bridge-to-Bridge Two-Way Protected Bike Lane on Crescent Street (from the Triboro Bridge to the Queensboro Bridge).

With an increasingly unreliable MTA, people are relying more on the Ubers clogging our streets to get around

Our population is growing every year and our streets and trains are too full to carry them - we need alternatives

The new NYC Ferry service in Hallet's Cove is easily accessible by bike, but too far for pedestrians and transit riders to access

Crescent Street is mainly a residential street and could be perfect for a morning bike commute to work. However, for most of its length, it is is overbuilt and too wide, which only encourages speeding from the non-local car traffic using the road to toll shop to Manhattan. As a result,61 pedestrians, 112 motorists, 26 cyclists have been injured, and 1 motorist was killed on Crescent Street between 2013 and 2017.

Let's make Crescent Street safer and give transit starved Astoria new safe ways to commute to work and around Astoria.

We look forward to your leadership helping us make this goal a reality.

Astoria is a popular neighborhood for biking. Residents use their bike to conveniently commute into Manhattan over the Queensboro Bridge (less than 20 minutes) and for recreation along the waterfront to Astoria Park. With Citibike's recent arrival in Astoria, residents are increasingly using bike-share to easily commute and reach our businesses and cultural destinations.

But for too many families, biking is still unsafe. Astoria needs a comprehensive network of protected bike lanes designed for all ages and all skill levels. Many of Astoria's safest bike lanes lie along the waterfront (20th Avenue, Vernon Boulevard) - but these lanes are inaccessible and serve more recreational purposes. We need a direct North-South route through the commercial heart of Astoria, that will get folks from their parks, to their neighborhood businesses, and over to Manhattan.

We support studying and implementating a Bridge-to-Bridge Two-Way Protected Bike Lane on Crescent Street (from the Triboro Bridge to the Queensboro Bridge).

NOW is the time for protected bike lanes in Astoria because:
Incredible year-over-year growth in renting and tourism
Year-long shutdowns of N / W train stations are leaving thousands of residents transit-starved, and businesses customer-starved
With an increasingly unreliable MTA, people are relying more on the Ubers clogging our streets to get around
The new NYC Ferry service in Hallet's Cove is easily accessible by bike, but too far for pedestrians and transit riders to access
Crescent Street is a quiet residential street, perfect for a morning commute to work. However, along most of Crescent Strreet, it is too wide. Because of all the rampant speeding encouraged by these wide lanes, 61 pedestrians, 112 motorists, 26 cyclists have been injured, and 1 motorist was killed on Crescent Street between 2013 and 2017.

Let's make Crescent Street safer and give transit starved Astoria new safe ways to commute to work and around Astoria.

I look forward to your leadership helping us make this goal a reality.

Your message has been sent to Community Board 1, Council Member Costa Constantinides, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, Assemblywoman Simotas, State Senator Gianaris, Queens DOT Commissioner Nicole Garcia.